Supporting Graduate Student Mentoring through NSF’s New Requirements
The era of “Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you will finish their Ph.D. program is over” said Sylvia Butterfield, Deputy Assistant Director, Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), National Science Foundation (NSF) at a recent virtual workshop organized by CGS with support from NSF (Award # 2413980).
Hosted on April 23rd, 2024, the webinar is one of a series of two, the first to inform graduate school deans and senior research officials about NSF’s new mentoring requirements for graduate students, and the second to help faculty researchers improve their mentoring while meeting NSF’s new requirements. These requirements, described in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 24-1), will be in effect for all NSF proposals submitted on or after May 20, 2024.
NSF has required a mentoring plan for postdoctoral grantees since 2007, and this requirement is now being extended to graduate students. This broadening of the mentoring requirement is a furthering of NSF’s acknowledgement of the importance of mentoring and mentorship in the graduate students’ experience and in the formation of their future plans. As discussed in the webinar on April 24, NSF recognizes that there are a wide variety of mentoring models being used across higher education; therefore, they have not endorsed any particular approach to developing mentoring plans.
Examples of encouraged mentoring activities include, but are not limited to: career counseling; training in preparation of grant proposals, publications and presentations; guidance on ways to improve teaching and mentoring skills; guidance on how to effectively collaborate with researchers from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary areas; and training in responsible professional practices.
With over 800 attendees, the first webinar provided details about NSF’s new graduate student mentoring requirements and best practices in preparing PIs and prospective PIs on their campuses to meet them. The workshop featured presentations from NSF leadership, graduate deans and senior research administrators:
- Sylvia Butterfield, Deputy Assistant Director, Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), National Science Foundation
- Daniel Denecke, Program Director, National Science Foundation
- Ellen Fisher, Vice President for Research, University of New Mexico
- Debra Jackson, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Academic Programs, California State University, Bakersfield
- Mike Solomon, Dean, Graduate Studies and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Michigan
The second webinar will take place on June 18, 2024. We invite CGS members to share the description and registration link with faculty at their institutions.
Faculty/ PI Workshop: How NSF’s New Mentoring Requirements Can Improve Your Research Agenda
June 18, 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
In this 90-minute virtual workshop, participants will learn about NSF’s new graduate student mentoring requirements for grants submitted on or after May 20, 2024. NSF leaders will begin the event with information about the new requirements, which apply to any grant that provides support to graduate students. Next, disciplinary society leaders and faculty with distinguished records as researchers and mentors will provide strategies and examples for improving both mentoring and research outcomes.
The workshop is the second in a series designed to prepare institutions and researchers for the new requirement. Participants are invited to view the recording of the first webinar, held in April, where NSF leadership and graduate deans and senior research administrators discussed the new requirements as well as university communications to faculty researchers about the change. The second webinar, focused specifically on faculty and other researchers on NSF grants, will provide more detailed information about the requirement and resources for mentoring graduate students. Participants will also receive an FAQ document that provides answers to questions raised in the first workshop and a curated list of resources on mentoring. The workshop is free of charge.